The Cost of Different

There is the saying we hear in church a lot: we are to be in the world but not of it. It is adapted from the verse below: “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."  John 17:13-17 This is a great prayer and worth nothing. Usually I think I do pretty good at not being of the world. However, when I see someone who is godly, someone who has shaped their entire life around the teachings of Christ I can see how far off I am. I am in the world, obviously. I am not of it... Technically. But when I honestly look at how my life measures up to the life of Christ, I realize that I am a lot more like the world than Him. As I see daily examples of the indifference of the lives of "Christians." I wonder if in America Christianity will grow or implode. We idly stand by, say a few prayers or attend a church service every so often, but our lives are no different. We talk the same as the world, we 'stand' for the same things, or at least we don't stand for anything different, in many cases silence is interpreted as agreement; we watch the same things, spend our money the same way and many times Christians try their hardest to look like the world so they will not have to explain themselves. I believe that God can do anything. But, how often do I/we let myself/ourselves be the one(s) that He uses. I guess the more we live in the world and think ourselves a part of it, the more we expect things and we feel that we have rights and entitlement to things. Not that we should be allowing others to take advantage of us, but do we need to live like everyone else? What about counting the cost to follow Christ. "Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’  Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with 10,000 men to oppose the one coming against him with 20,000? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Mark 14:25-33, 35 Just the fact that He calls us to 'count the cost' before following Him should make us stop and think. Our life will not look the same as those who do not follow Him. We may make less money, we may not have all of the comforts, but we should have a different attitude and our lives better be characterized by humility, grace and love. God has chosen us to be His people. We are to be like Him and that is most definately different from being like the world. Sometimes it will hurt. Sometimes it will mean purposely allowing ourselves to be hurt to keep humble and to consider others as better than ourselves. Our lives may not be glamorous, or we might not live the 'high life'. But that is what we have to take into account when following Christ. He wants us to count the cost lest we jump in and decide shortly into the journey that we don't want to follow and bring disgrace to His name. "If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?" --David Livingstone, Doctor and Missionary to Africa in the 1800's. Look him up.

True Sacrifice

Lets take a few moments and look at an event in David's life.
2 Samuel 24
Remember the part where David wonders how many people are in Israel so he takes a census. Afterwards, he was convicted of his sin in taking the census to measure the size of his army. As his punishment, the Lord sent an epedemic on the land and 70,000 people died. David says to the LORD that he was the one who had sinned so the punishment should not be on the entire people. The LORD tells him to go to Araunah's threshing place, build an altar and to offer a sacrifice. When David tells Araunah of God's command to build an altar and offer a sacrifice to end the epedemic, Araunah eagerly offers it to him for free. David's response is one that should be all of ours when we are asked to offer something: "I will not offer to the LORD my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing." (2Samuel 24:24)

As we spent our days in Potosi, this was so meaningful to me as I saw it lived out daily.
These people, who had not had much time to prepare for our coming, provided meals for us from their meager supply. And not only that, they served us generous portions. And they did it cheerfully.
As I prepared for this trip, there were many times I wondered how I would pay for it. The job I had did not work out and a month before leaving I did not have a job. There were many who graciously and willingly helped me financially. What a blessing and how very grateful I am!
I purposely did not send out a ton of letters or ask as many people to help that I could have. I knew that I wanted it to cost me something too. I knew that if it was costing me something to go that it would mean more and that I would have to trust God to provide. I didn't expect to have to trust so much but how wonderful to have Him to trust.

I personally have never had to wonder where my next meal would come from. I have never been in such a tight spot that I did not know where I would lay my head to sleep at night. God has always been so good to me. Yet, I hold back to be so good to others.
I hold onto my material goods too tightly. I worked hard for my money and things and I am not very generous with them. Often what I give is out of my excess and does not cause me any "discomfort" or really cost me much.

How these wonderful people challenged my attitute and my heart.They don't have an abundance of anything, yet they share what they do have.

God has given His very own Son. For a people who had done nothing for Him except mock Him and bring dishonor to Him. That was a tremendous cost. And I just toss a few dollars into the offering plate, give a few hours of my time here and there or offer a little bit of emotion to the work of Christ.
What a shame.
May I give more. May I love more. May I hurt for Christ. May I sacrifice, really sacrifice, myself for the furthering of His kingdom.

Bolivia Overview:

So many thoughts and emotions from the 10 days I spent in Bolivia.
It was such an incredible experience and I don't even have the words to express just how amazing it was or know where to start. So I will give a brief overview and follow up with more specifics later.

We arrived in Bolivia on Tuesday, January 1. It was a holiday which meant that everyone was off school and work. Eduardo came with his van with Laura, Rachel and Kristina to pick us up at the airport. We went to the house where we would be staying.  Dr. Jorge met us there and we went over some details for the week. We then sorted through bags and bags of donations. Dr. Jorge would go later to get some more things to hand out in the villages for later in the week. As we sorted through the donations that were given, it seemed like we had a lot; as we got to the villages, what we did have seemed very minute. However, God used what we did have and we did not run out after seeing about 500 people.

We left on Thursday for Potosi (actually villages on the way to Potosi). We had been preparing emotionally for the week but it is a little hard to know what to actually expect when you have never been there. I had seen pictures before and heard stories, but it wasn't until I actually began to see the villages and the people that I was in awe of their beauty. The mountains rose majestically in every direction. The skies were a brilliant blue and opened widely before us. The serenity of the people, their generosity to share what they had: food which is a precious commodity and even their own matresses. Their gracious welcome was humbling.

We were joined by Maritza, a nurse; Eliana and her son Jesus who is a patient of Dr. Jorge; and Carlos, a professional clown. What a joy they were to have along. Maritza, who patiently instructed us how to help prepare the food, washed dishes and served us all week. Eliana who helped out whenever she could and Jesus who was so curious and brought never-ending smiles to us. He was the most adorable and well behaved child any of us had ever seen. And Carlos--he also brought much joy and laughter to us and the children. He also provided advice and encouragement to us. Dr. Jorge gently cared for team members as 6 or 8 of the team from Cochabamba became sick. He calmly found transportation to and from each of the towns that we visited after our bus driver left us in Macha after a 15 hour bus drive on the first day.
We were well cared for by Dr. Jorge, Carlos and Maritza. It was such a comfort to know that God is always with us and never surprised by circumstances and he provides people to be His hands and his face to us.

Probably one of the greatest things about mission trips is that they separate you from your comfort zone and you are made more aware of your inadequacies. God must be trusted. There is no other option. And the beautiful thing is that you get to see him provide time after time after time.

Questions in the midst of Certainty

Sometimes we cannot see past our present circumstances but the amazing thing is that God does. I have been reading through Judges and when I got to chapter 6 I was struck by the many pictures of grace that God shows to a reluctant, scared guy.

When Gideon is first encountered, he is threshing wheat secretly for fear of the Midianites. The angel of the Lord approaches him and what does he call him? (Judges 6:12) "the LORD is with you, brave and mighty man!" Gideon responds by stating that if God really was with his people, they would not be in the situation they were in. And the response, he gives Gideon a job: to lead the people in battle against the Midianites.

As we all do when we are given a huge task, Gideon immediately tells him why that is not possible: not only is his clan weakest but he is the least important of his family. He better get someone who has better credentials. That is not a good excuse and the LORD answers, "You can do it because I will help you. You will crush the Midianites as easily as if they were only one man." (6:16). Excuses don't work with God since he obviously had made up his mind.

I think that at this point, God is addressing the one thing that is holding Gideon to his present, oppressive situation--his fear. Perhaps he feared failure, perhaps he feared what others would think, perhaps he thought that no one would go with him and he would be alone. All of those fears are answered when the LORD says that HE will be with him. This kind of reminds me of some other people in the bible and in real life.

So Gideon acknowledges that God has showed up and called him to obedience so he prepares his heart to do what God has said. He takes the first step. Then after the offering he gathers 10 guys to help him tear down his own father's idol to Baal and offers a sacrifice to The True God. But again, he is scared so he does it in the dark. Obviously the next day people notice and they go to his dad and ask what happened to the idol and they threaten to kill Gideon. But Gideon's step toward obedience spurs his father to obedience as well and his father tells the men to 'let Baal defend himself.' Then Gideon gathers his army.

As soon as he does that, he does the thing he is most famous for--he asks God for a sign. Twice. I guess I always though he was a wimp or unspiritual for doing such a thing. That was when I was ignorant and a child. As I have been reading this passage it gives me a great picture of the patience and grace of God. He responds to excuses and impatience with answers and love. Who are we to question the word of God. But yet, we are very finite and in our weakness we want to know that we embark on a 'scary' or huge task that someone has our back. And especially that we are doing the right thing.

And as I read this I am reminded that God doesn't hold our questions against us. He requires obedience and as we obey, sometimes we need reassurance along the way. God gives that.

Kill The Snake

As I was playing the piano this morning I was struck by the words of an old hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" by Isaac Watts. This hymn is beautiful and one of my favorites.

"Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,

save in the death of Christ my God;

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood."

I was convicted of these words and how it is so simple to get caught up in 'vain things.' The things are different for everyone, but I think they are anything that distracts us from the grand calling we have as believers to follow and serve Christ. I think one of the greatest entryways into our minds, leading to temptation is that black box which is in every living room in America--and maybe every other room of most houses. We watch shows, movies and commercials all the while knowing that the lifestyle, images and language presented in them are against the very morality that Scripture calls us to.

Last week I was at a Fields of Faith event. It is an outreach for high school students. The speaker at this event told a story:

There was a little girl who had a pet snake [true story] for her birthday. She fed the snake every day and it would sleep next to her, curled up on a pillow beside her on the bed. After a while the snake stopped eating and would not even eat different foods that the girl would try to feed it. The snake also stopped sleeping curled up on the pillow next to her, instead it lay stretched out, parallel to her. One day they stopped to ask a veterinarian what they could do to make the snake eat. They told her about the strange behavior of the pet. When he heard that the snake was not eating and now lay stretched out next to her, he said,

"When you go home, you need to kill the snake."

He explained that the snake was preparing itself to have its most fulfilling meal yet--the very girl who had loved it and given it so much attention.

The speaker looked at the youth and said, 'Some of you need to go home and kill the snake.' Those little sins in our life, we have to get rid of them! Satan looks to what we spend most time and thought on--those are our priorities and he will use them to his advantage to trap us in sin.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour 1Peter 5:8

If we are not constantly on guard of our thoughts and affections, we could very easily become victim to the schemes of the devil. Satan is very real and not passive.

I have been thinking about how it is usually vain and stupid things that fill most of my thoughts. I forget about the greater work that God is doing in the world. Even though I cannot go out and save every person out of Satan's grasp or rescue every person from their dark lifestyles. There are some things I can do--and hiding in my own safe world is not an option! As a believer I NEED to pray, pray, pray! I need fill my mind with things that will challenge me and inspire me to serve God and others. I can pray for ways to serve in my church and community. And there are many more ways to combat the ways of Satan in the world...

"...Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts." Romans 13:11-14

So many things I could say about this passage, but I won't because I really think Paul said it best. We have been--can I say--embarrassed, of our Christian beliefs, but if they were lived out I really believe that my life and this world would be a very different place.

Compassion International

This is Isidoro.
Having the opportunity to be Isidoro's sponsor through Compassion International is one of the greatest joys of my life.
I started sponsoring him in 2006. He was 9.

Here he is this year.
He has Bizzy's birthday and is 3 days older than Michelle.

Isidoro is probably the only person who ever answers my letters. I LOVE getting his letters. He tells me about his family, what he is learning in school, that he got a beautiful new sports uniform, he describes his neighborhood. AND, there is always a picture that he drew me. I hope I can go visit him and meet him in real life someday.

His last letter said, "Siempre estoy orando por usted para que Dios la bendiga y la progeja. Siempre me siento muy contento al saber que siempre cuento con su apollo. Se despide usted esperando tener noticias pronto con mucho amor."
Which is translated, "I pray for you so that God is blessing you and watching over you. I am happy to count on your support. Bye to you now with much love, hoping to hear from you soon. With much love."
I am so blessed to know Isidoro and I pray that God continues to use him to bless his family and city. Maybe when I get to heaven I will see the extent of how our friendship affected my life, his life and the lives of others.

My favorite kind of Saturday

Hard work never hurt nobody. True. It actually helps everybody.

Some of my favorite memories growing up involved a lot of long, hard work. When we woke up on Saturday mornings we knew that it was going to be a work day. And it was normal. The fun thing was that we would all be working together. Dad would give us jobs to do and he would come back and check on us every once in a while. But the best part was when he would be satisfied with our work and we would feel like a million bucks.

I had been wanting to plant our garden ever since I came back from Ohio. Last Saturday I woke up and the house was strangely quiet. I looked out the window and saw dad, mom, Josh and Tim in the garden. I was so excited and knew it was going to be a good day. I went out and we pulled out all of the dead, dried up plants and whatever weeds we could. Then dad started giving out jobs and I volunteered to mow. What a job. It took 2 times to get all the tall grass down, Bekah, Michelle and Tim picked up the grass while Josh used the Weedeater. Dad cooked steaks and hot dogs on the grill for lunch and then we got back to work and tilled the garden, planted our new seeds and then Jon and Paul came home and the guys put cement in the small garden pond. We watched and enjoyed a gorgeous day and family.

Boy, I'm sure glad mom and dad decided to have all us kids! Many hands make light work.(--Mom always said this to us.)